4G LTE field trials announced by Everything Everywhere and BT

Next gen mobile broadband tested

Britain will get its first 4G LTE trial in September, with a collaboration between mobile phone giant Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale bringing the next generation mobile broadband to the UK.

The trial will take place in Cornwall in September, and will see the two companies collaborating, with the Everything Everywhere (comprising Orange and T-Mobile) mobile network and BT's fixed telecommunications providing the infrastructure.

100 mobile and 100 fixed line customers in the St Newlyn East area of South Newquay, Cornwall will be included in the trial.

Trial on

Apparently a test at BT's labs in Adastal Park in Surrey is already underway, but the field trial will give a much better measure of the new technology which will utilise 2 x 10MHz of test 800MHz spectrum.

"Residents in the St Newlyn East and surrounding areas who wish to learn more or who may want to participate in the trial can register their interest at www.4Gwirelessbroadbandtrial.co.uk," explained Everything Everywhere's release.

"The trial will be free of charge to all triallists, and is being implemented with support from technology partners Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei."

4G LTE is being talked up as a potential answer to the expensive problem of getting decent broadband connections in rural areas.

Ambition

Tom Alexander, CEO, Everything Everywhere, said:"Our ambition is to have the best 4G network and be pioneers in enabling Britain's superfast wireless future.

"We strongly believe that, by sharing our network and mobile assets in this way, we can make a valuable contribution to the economics of rural broadband services.

"Our work with BT is providing a test bed for new technologies such as 4G LTE which, with the correct allocation of sub 1GHz spectrum from the Government, has the potential to make a real impact on the way in which we communicate in the future.

"The Government has previously stated its desire for the UK to have the best in class superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, and we hope to help this vision become a reality."